


Shot Through the Heart (and you're to blame)

by oleanderedits



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Ba dum tish, Character Death, Depressing, Frenemies, Future Fic, M/M, One Shot, Unrequited Love, but it's the title too, i made myself cry just a bit, i'm in a mood apparently, sad fic, so now I have to share it with you, so you've been warned, srsly sad, through the heart, yes that's a spoiler for the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 01:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17633513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oleanderedits/pseuds/oleanderedits
Summary: "My life for his, whenever you call for it."





	Shot Through the Heart (and you're to blame)

**Then**

"You're still in love with him."

The declaration, laced in equal parts pity and malice, rang loudly in the otherwise empty room. It was just the two of them. Barbara, having lured him away from the battle preparations with a promise that she wouldn't try to kill him or hurt him until after they'd dealt with the military incursion into their city. Said that she had some information he'd like to know, but it was best left to a private discussion.

"If that's  _all_ ," Oswald drawled out, tone as bored as he was with people stating the obvious to him, "Then what was the point of bringing me here?"

Barbara smiled brightly and laughed, a short and very unkind laugh, and stepped forward into Oswald's personal space. A perfectly manicured finger pressed into his chest and she let her nail run over his tie in an idle manner as she gave a shrug, "Because he doesn't love you and that makes us almost even."

She dragged her gaze upward to look in his eyes, "Almost. You see, that kind of pain I understand. Though I was fortunate enough for Tabby to love me back... I was never her first choice. That was Butch."

Barbara moved her hand over to his shoulder and smoothed the non-existent wrinkles in his suit before she continued, tone now contemplative. "You'll never be his first choice. Or any choice. What you did to him and what he did to you in return drove a wedge into your friendship that will never fully heal. It's why he keeps swinging back and forth the way he does. He wants to trust you, but he can't because he can't get over that one betrayal that happened when he trusted you the most. When he had practically dedicated his life to you. And despite knowing that, despite all that he's done in retaliation... you still love him."

She sucked in a deep breath and her hand moved back to rest over his heart. She pressed against him, firm but not forceful, her lips hovering next to his ear, "So when I'm ready to pay you back for Tabitha, know that it'll be his heart I'll rip out to crush yours."

He couldn't help the hiss that sounded as he sucked in the air and his fists clenched at his sides. Barbara pulled away, smiling at him, stepping back so she could wave as she walked around his nearly frozen form to the door.

"Don't."

"Aww, sorry, Pengy, but you took my heart, so I'm taking yours," she called back in a sing song. He could hear her footsteps get further away. Once she was out the door there was no negotiating.

"If you promise to spare his life, I'll let you take mine."

He steps stopped and he rushed on before she decided to stop listening.

"No attempts to fight, no attempts to save myself. My life for his, whenever you call for it. I will go willingly and without hesitation."

He was tempted to say more, but feared she'd cut him off for begging too much.

The silence cut into him for what felt like minutes stretched long enough for him to replay every moment of his life that he'd spent near Edward and all of it was worth the offer. Every last bit if it meant he got to live.

Anything for him.

"Deal."

 

**Moments Ago**

Oswald walked into the room at a sedate pace, the tap of his umbrella turned cane echoing off the high ceilings. Just audible enough for Edward to notice and turn in his captor's arms to glare at him.

"So that's the play, is it? You turn me over to Penguin and get what? Money? Information?" He spat out, his attention returning to Barbara. 

Fifteen years hadn't changed her much. Sure there were some age lines creasing the sides of her eyes and there was fashionably styled grey streak she didn't try to hide but instead turned into a feature... but other than that she was a vibrant as ever. So was Ed. Still as skinny and recklessly assuming the worst of him as always. 

He'd changed a lot more. But the changes weren't worth noting now, at the end of his life.

Oswald kept his eyes on Barbara, who stood leaning against the elegant table at the end of the room.

"Hello Pengy," she greeted him warmly, as if he were a friend.

"Ms. Keane," he answered back, tipping his head as he came to a stop ten feet from her. A polite distance for any last minute discussions.

"I can't believe you're dealing with her like this!" Ed growled and struggled some more.

There was no struggle in Oswald as he shook his head and addressed Barbara with a question, "Could I speak with your prisoner a moment before we get on with this?"

"Mmm... I don't know. You didn't really give me that, now did you?"

"No. But I assure you, it's only so the clean up is left out of your hands. I've made all the arrangements," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a phone to show it to her, "There's only one number. All he has to do is call it and give the address and they'll take care of everything. No need to sully your hands further."

Barbara considered this, then nodded and waved her hand for him to get on with it. He nodded again in thanks and finally turned to Edward. The Riddler. A man who was now questioning his own assumptions about what was going on. Clean up in their line of work meant taking care of a body and he was trying to figure out whose body that would be.

Oswald tucked the phone into his breast pocket, unable to help the tears in his eyes as he smiled down at the man he loved and had never managed to fully regain the trust of. But that was something he'd long ago accepted, as sad as it made him. He patted the phone and set his umbrella so it hung off the bindings holding Ed's wrists together, "After they're gone, call the number and give the address to the man who answers. I ask nothing more of you."

"...Oswald?" Ed questioned softly as he turned away. And then louder, his name being called like a plea. Realization hitting him who exactly the clean up was for but not being able to believe it. He'd always been able to piece things together faster than everyone around him. Blind only to the truth of Oswald's feelings.

Oswald stood in front of Barbara and nodded, "Whenever you're ready."

"No. NO! NO! NO NO NO NO! Stop this!" Ed's voice was difficult to drown out, but he did his best. Shut his eyes and focused on counting his heartbeats.

One. 

Two.

The gunshot brought silence in it's wake. A quiet barely broken by the impact of Oswald's body hitting the cold marble tile.

Barbara smiled, a shaky breath of satisfaction pulling through her as her assassins released Ed and cut his bindings. He dropped to the floor in shock while she walked out with a soft, very pleased, "Bye Pengy."

 

**Now**

Ed sat for an hour, so numb to everything he couldn't even think properly. His head kept replaying the scene and nothing about it made sense. There was no reason for Oswald to die. He'd been caught trying to break into one of the Queane's artifact vaults and then held for a few days before being dragged here for what she'd called an exchange. When Oswald walked in the exchange made sense. Or it had until she'd pressed the gun to Oswald's chest and pulled the trigger.

It just... why? 

"Why?" he asked aloud to a man who would never be able to answer again. To a body slowly cooling as the blood seeped out from under one of his best suits.

"Why?" this time it croaked out, broken by a sob he couldn't stop. That was his best friend lying there. Dead. Killed for what? Ed's release? Was whatever was in that vault worth so much to her? That couldn't possibly be it. Barbara collected museum pieces for fun, not because she actually cared about them. 

"WHY?!" he screamed pulling at his hair so the pain could distract him from the ache burning a hole in his chest.

He didn't know how or when he ended up with his head on Oswald's shoulder. The blood staining his clothes as surely as it stained the floor. He came to in a daze, groggy, eyes sore like he'd cried so hard he'd passed out. Fingers sore and cramped from clinging to the ruined suit.

"Why?" he whispered to an empty room. 

He brushed Oswald's hair back knowing it wouldn't stay. Nothing would stay now.

He shifted and felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. The breast pocket of his coat had moved inconveniently upward and now the phone that was tucked inside was pressing painfully into him.

He pulled it out and stared for a long moment before he flipped it open and navigated to the contact list. Just one number as promised. He selected it and pressed send.

Four rings and a deep, cultured voice that gave him nightmares even now answered with a curious, "Hello?"

God, what a contingency plan. Always three steps ahead. Maybe more.

He gave the address, keeping his tone as cordial as he could. Said a name. _His_ name.

"Oh. My. Has the time for my part of our deal come already? Well, it's sooner than expected. But I'll be there within the hour."

Ed hung up and threw the phone across the room. It broke with a loud crack before silence once more enveloped him like a blanket. Heavy and comforting. He wasn't hugging the corpse of his only friend, he was just waiting for Strange to help Oswald wake up. That's all.


End file.
